Yankees, Teixeira benefit from A-Rod’s return
Rodriguez’s bat giving Tex better choices at the plate

It’s no secret that Alex Rodriguez, like Barry Bonds, like Roger Clemens and like Manny Ramirez was a great and gifted player long before his name became associated with performance enhancing drugs. Out of those names mentioned only Rodriguez has avoided any penalties or courtroom entanglements so far. As we all know, the reasons for becoming involved with PEDs can be as infinite as the color spectrum. Conversely, this isn’t about the steroid issue.

The New York Yankees, for all of the drama A-Rod brings into the clubhouse for both his on and off field antics, are a better team with him in the lineup than on the sidelines. No one knew how the Yankees would respond following an examination of A-Rod’s right hip, which revealed a cyst and a partially torn labrum that would require some kind of surgery to repair it. After a further examination by Dr. Marc Philippon of Vale, CO it was determined Rodriguez could have a less invasive surgery to clean up the hip in order to play this year and after the season undergo a more thorough procedure to completely restore the hip.

A-Rod underwent surgery on March 9 and was expected to miss approximately 9 to 10 weeks. That would’ve projected his return to the club around mid-May if everything went according to plan. In the meantime the Yankees started the season with journeyman Cody Ransom playing the hot corner. Ransom, although talented with a glove, was not an offensive charge in the lineup. Ransom’s offense was pretty offensive. Before he went on the disabled list with a torn quadriceps muscle Ransom was hitting .180 with no home runs and 6 RBI in 50 trips to the plate.

Also feeling the effects of a missing Alex Rodriguez has been Mark Teixeira. Teixeira was brought in during the off season to replace an aging Jason Giambi at first base. Teixeira signed a huge 8-year deal with New York to provide offense and upgrade the defense Giambi couldn’t provide.

“Tex” had a good spring training, and although he is regarded as a notorious slow starter at the beginning of the year (career .249 BA including 2009) it was hoped that his hot spring would carry over into the regular season. However, with the absence of A-Rod Teixeira has struggled. In April, without Rodriguez to protect him, Teixeira saw a lot of breaking balls and pitches off the plate. Tex ended the month with a .200 average with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. He struck out 12 times or one strikeout per 5. 83 at bats.

His struggles continued going into May as Teixeira’s average continued to plummet. By May 12 Teixeira was hitting just .191. His strikeout total had jumped to 25 in 109 at bats (every 4.36 AB). Frustrated by his lack of production Teixeira began hearing the boos from fans as he looked completely lost at times in the batter’s box.

However, on May 8, a week before he was projected to return, A-Rod made his first appearance of the 2009 campaign. Facing the Baltimore Orioles and RHP Jeremy Guthrie Rodriguez made a dramatic statement as he hit the first pitch he saw out of the park to give the Yankees 3-0 lead. In one swing A-Rod lifted the spirits of the entire team, which had been scuffling from the opening bell.

Prior to May 8 the Yankees were 4.5 games out of first place, standing in 3rd place behind the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox with a 14-15 record. They had been embarrassed by the Red Sox losing five straight times both in Boston and New York. They had a habit of getting behind in games or if leading the game, losing the lead and then losing the game.

Since A-Rod’s return the Yankee clubhouse seems to have refocused and reenergized. In the past 9 games, with Rodriguez in the lineup, the Bombers have posted a 7-2 record. They took 2-of-3 from the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, 2-of-3 from the AL East Division leading Blue Jays and after coming from behind again today hold a 3-0 series lead over the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Yankees go for the Sweep on Monday. More on that series later.

Although, A-Rod has struggled so far with his timing at the plate, because of his inability to perform in live game situations, he has picked his spots to elevate his team. Besides his spectacular first at bat, first pitch, 3-run home run against the Orioles Rodriguez has chosen other moments to shine as well.

On Saturday night Rodriguez hit a two-run walk-off homer in the 11th inning to record his first hit at the new Yankee Stadium. The home run also broke a 4-4 tie and stunned the Twins for the second game in a row. In Sunday’s game against the Twins Rodriguez etched his will on the game again. Trailing 2-0 to a brilliant pitching performance by Kevin Slowey A-Rod hit a solo shot in the 7th inning to cut the lead to 2-1.

The big beneficiary in all of this has been Teixeira. With Rodriguez batting cleanup behind him, Teixeira has been seeing better pitches and has responded. In the 9 games since his return and proceeding A-Rod in the order Teixeira is hitting .324 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI. He is still striking out more than the Yankees would like, but overall they have to be very pleased Teixeira has begun to thaw out at the plate.

Getting back to today’s game at the Stadium against the Twins, New York won for their third straight come-from-behind victory is this 4-game series. All of the wins have come in surprising fashions. In addition to A-Rod’s heroics Saturday night, hot hitting CF Melky Cabrera added his own brand of excitement.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th with two on, two out and the bases loaded Cabrera strode to the plate to face premier closer Joe Nathan. Cabrera lifted the ball into the left-center field gap scoring Teixeira and PR Ramiro Peña to secure a 5-4 win.

In Sunday’s game the Yankees faced an outstanding start by Slowey who only surrendered two earned runs in 7.2 innings of work. The Yankees countered with A.J. Burnett, though struggling at times, kept his team in the game. Burnett gave up two earned runs in 6.2 innings before giving the ball to the bullpen.

After A-Rod’s solo homer in the 7th inning DH Hideki Matsui doubled off Slowey and then scored the tying run by advancing on RF Nick Swisher’s sacrifice and Cabrera’s fly out to left field. Slowey’s day was done and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire turned it over to his bullpen.

The Twins kept the game even until the bottom of the 10th inning when LF Johnny Damon turned on a fastball from RHRP Jesse Crain and sent into the right field second deck to give the Yankees their third come-from-behind victory. It was Damon’s third career walk off bomb, but his first with the Yankees. The three consecutive come-from-behind wins hadn’t been accomplished since August 27-29, 1972 the season before principal owner George Steinbrenner purchased the club.

The win also was the Yankees 5th straight victory, which is the longest string of wins this season.

After the game, YES Network’s Kimberly Jones caught up with Damon outside the Yankees dugout. Just before going on camera Damon was given a cream pie in the face by Burnett. Jones asked Damon what all of the recent drama meant to him and the team.

“This is great. Three straight walk offs, you know it’s pretty exciting for us,” Damon said. “Hopefully, this means we’re going to start playing better. Things feel real good right now.”

It’s also pretty exciting for Yankee fans as well and you can bet they’re feeling real good right now too.

Notes: This was the 11th anniversary of David Wells perfect game against the Minnesota Twins who lost to the Yankees 4-0.

© 2009 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited

Yankees having a roller coaster season
Mediocre Bombers under .500 after first 31 games

First of all, I want to wish all of you baseball loving moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day.

UGLY! There is no other way to describe the New York Yankees. This team is ugly. It wins ugly and it loses ugly. Today’s finale in Baltimore was no different. It was ugly. Yeah, they won 5-3 on Johnny Damon’s 3-run home run in the top of the 7th inning, but getting there is an E-ticket ride Yankee fans are getting tired of watching.

Coming out of spring training, the Yankees were pegged by most baseball experts as one of the three best teams in all of baseball this season. Unfortunately for the Yankees the other two teams mentioned play in their division. Along with the Bombers, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays have also been talked about as being at the top of the class. It was predicted that between the three teams one would be AL East champion, one would be the wild card representative and the last could possibly win 90+ games and still go home.

So far New York looks like the odd team out. In fact, they don’t nearly resemble any team projected to win over 90 games this season. Besides the Red Sox and Rays you can add the Toronto Blue Jays who are playing tremendous baseball so far.

After 31 games (including today’s win in Baltimore) the Yankees record stands at 15-16. Projected out over an entire 162 game campaign the Yankees would finish 78-84. That is hardly the kind of record that would catapult a team into the playoffs.

The fall guy in all of this drama is Yankee manager Joe Girardi who, last year, took over the reins of the team from the departed Joe Torre. The baseball gods smiled cruelly on Girardi and the Yankees. After Torre headed for the sunny weather in Los Angeles as manager of the Dodgers the Yankees under Girardi’s guidance failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1994. Torre’s teams made the post season 12 straight years, making 6 World Series appearances and winning four of them. That’s the kind of record which leads to a direct membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

To make matters worse Torre took the 2008 Angelinos to the playoffs, beating the heavily favored Chicago Cubs in the first round before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS 4-1. No Dodger team had gone that far since Tommy Lasorda’s crew surprised the baseball world by upsetting the Oakland Athletics in the 1988 Fall Classic in five games.

While the Yankees flounder around on the east coast the Dodgers and Torre are currently enjoying life and the best record (22-10) in baseball on the west coast. Those facts must have the Yankees brain trust standing on its ear.

You can just hear all the arguments right now. Yeah, the Dodgers were nothing until they got Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox. Or, the Dodgers play in the weakest division in baseball. While some of or all of that may be true it doesn’t change the actuality of the situation. Torre and the Dodgers are winning (now without Ramirez who was suspended 50 games for a positive drug test) while Girardi and the Yankees are barely treading water.

In five head-to-head meetings this year the Red Sox are perfect against New York. As their greatest rival, that record grates on the nerve endings of anyone even remotely associated with the Yankees. Against all East Division rivals the Yankees are 5-11. With a new $1.5 billion stadium to show off and after spending $425 million in the off season upgrading the roster this start is hardly what the Steinbrenners and general manager Brian Cashman had envisioned.

Girardi’s trip to the hot seat is hardly all his fault. The offense has been sketchy at best. Owning a team average of .273 the Yankees rank sixth in the American League, trailing Toronto, Boston and Tampa Bay. The Yankees trail the same three teams in RBI, but trail only the Texas Rangers (50) in home runs (45).

While the hitting has been mixed the pitching has been absolutely horrendous. New York presently ranks at the bottom of the American League with a team ERA of 5.88. That average is nearly two and a half runs under front runner Kansas City who owns a team ERA of 2.39. In the AL East the Yankees trail the Baltimore Orioles, the next lowest team by a little under half a run (5.39) per game.

The starting rotation, including three disastrous starts by Chien-Ming Wang, has a combined ERA of 5.73. Without Wang it’s 5.22. The relief corps has been very unreliable. In 96 innings pitched the bullpen has surrendered 68 runs for an ERA of 6.38.

Even Mariano Rivera, arguably the greatest closer in history, has had his problems. Rivera has already surrendered four home runs this season, nearly equaling his career high (5) set in 1997. On May 7 against the Rays Rivera gave up consecutive home runs, which, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, hadn’t been done in 862 appearances by Rivera. His 3.97 ERA is 1.67 points higher than his career average.

In fairness to Rivera he is coming off shoulder surgery and he has said his velocity isn’t where it should be. Admittedly, Rivera said he has enough tools to get guys out. But, keep in mind Rivera is approaching 40 and as a closer he has been at the top of the ladder much longer than most of his contemporaries. It could just be Rivera has begun the inevitable downward spiral that ultimately catches up with every player.

Another thing which is out of Girardi’s control is injuries. The Yankees have had an inordinate amount of them since Opening Day. So far this season Girardi has had to juggle his starting rotation, bullpen and lineup card a number of times. The Yankees have lost RHRP Brian Bruney (15-day, right flex muscle mass), LHRP Damaso Marte (15-day, left shoulder tendinitis), C Jose Molina (15-day, strained right quad), RF Xavier Nady (15-day, right strained elbow), C Jorge Posada (15-day, strained hamstring), 3B Cody Ransom (60-day, right quad tear) and RHP Chien-Ming Wang (15-day, weak hip abductor muscle) to the Disabled List.

Up until this past Friday you could have included 3B Alex Rodriguez who has been out since the beginning of the season due to having surgery performed on his right hip. A-Rod came back with a flurry as he hit a 3-run bomb off the first pitch he saw from Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie. Still, as A-Rod returned both Posada and Molina went on the DL.

Girardi hasn’t had a full complement of players since he took over the team last year. Regrettably, he knows that the blame for failure has to fall somewhere, and it usually falls squarely on the shoulders of the manager. Cashman’s neck should be on the chopping block as well. As the general manager he is the guy, along with the manager, who recommends where the money spent on high priced players goes. Looking at the Yankees successes so far this year the team has overspent for its newly acquired talent.

This team still has time to right the ship. Going on the road and facing opponents in other divisions may be the tonic the Yankees need to turn their season around. However, their success or failure begins with each individual player. Unless each player is willing to come out every game and leave it on the field the 2009 drive will result in another year of failure. Some guys have stepped up, while others have stepped back. The Yankees still have to come back and face the other teams in their division and if they can’t get by them, then it doesn’t matter what they do against the other foes in the Central and West.

Where is the Gipper when you need him?

© 2009 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited